Just wanted to check in here with a quick standard DVD update. New Line
is gearing up to release a trio of new Lord
of the Rings DVDs on 8/29. Each of these new 2-disc Limited
Edition releases will carry an SRP of $28.98. They'll include both the
theatrical and extended versions of each film on the first disc (via
seamless branching). However, don't expect these discs to look as good
as the films on the 4-disc set - that's a LOT of video material to cram
on a single disc (I'd expect them to look about as good as the 2-disc
versions). Audio will be Dolby Digital 5.1 only, with no audio
commentaries. The second disc on each set will include a completely new
documentary on the complexities involved in the making of the film,
running 300 minutes in all over the three titles.

For those wondering about a possible HD-DVD or Blu-ray release, don't
expect one to happen until next year at the earliest. Dual-layered
Blu-ray Discs are still in the testing phase (that is to say, a title
hasn't yet been released on dual-layered BD media), although many HD-DVD
titles released thus far have been dual-layered. However, neither format
is capable of doing seamless branching yet (those portions of the specs
have yet to be tested and worked out).

Anyway, we'll be back with more DVD news tomorrow. Stay tuned...

(EARLY UPDATE - 6/21/06 -
3 AM PDT)

Well... I've had my first experience with Blu-ray Disc, and Samsung's
BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player. For the record, I have four titles on
hand... The Fifth Element and The
Terminator (from Sony and MGM) and Lord
of War and Crash (from
Lionsgate).

You know how I keep saying that these formats are being rushed to
market about a year before they're ready? And you recall how hard I was
on the HD-DVD camp for their klutzy launch and buggy hardware? And you
know how I said that Blu-ray Disc looked like the superior format, at
least on paper? Well... unfortunately, the Blu-ray camp has dropped a
dud with their big launch too. Every bit as klutzy as HD-DVD. Think
Clark Kent klutzy, or Gerald Ford klutzy, or Chevy Chase playing Gerald
Ford klutzy.

Let's start with the Samsung player. Nice box, nice packaging. You pull
the BD-P1000 out of said packaging and it looks pretty badass. Love the
lines. It's a much nicer looking player than Toshiba's HD-A1, though
it's lighter and feels a little less solid. The BD-P1000's remote is
nicer too... not backlit unfortunately, but it feels better in your hand
and the buttons are laid out more conveniently.

Connection via HDMI is pretty easy. You fire the BD-P1000 up and the
first thing you notice is a sexy blue glow from the various openings on
the player. Nice... except I have yet to find a dimmer. And it's just a
little too bright, you know? Anyway... the player fires up very quickly.
You get a welcome screen within about 5 seconds of power-on. BIG
improvement over the Tosh HD-DVD player. You can load a disc after less
then 30 seconds, also an improvement over the Tosh. I also like that
when it's loading or thinking, you get a little onscreen icon to let you
know, rather than just nothing. At least you feel like the thing is
doing something. For whatever reason, the player defaults to 720p output
via HDMI... you have to go into the setup menu to select 1080i. Okay, so
that's what I did.

Now it's time to look at my first Blu-ray Disc. Naturally, my hand
swerved towards The Fifth Element.
The title was an amazing bit of reference work on standard DVD, and that
Superbit version was awesome. Obvious choice, right? Should look amazing
in HD. Yeah... it should. But it doesn't. In fact... I'm not going to
come out and say it looks like crap, but it is easily the worst looking
high-definition title I've seen yet, and I've seen 30+ titles now. The
image is muddy looking, lacking in crisp, clean detail. The colors don't
quite pop off the screen like they should. Just a mess. Okay... I will
say it. It looks like crap. Sony should never have released this title
like this. In fact, they should be embarrassed about this disc.
Seriously, if you compare the upscaled Superbit standard-definition DVD
to this, the Blu-ray Disc looks only marginally better. This should have
been a reference title in high-def and it's not even in the ball park.
My brow furrowed in troubled surprise at this point. Wow... and not the
good kind.

Next, I tried The Terminator. A
big improvement. This is easily the best quality I've ever seen The
Terminator looking before. Still... it's a little bit soft
and gritty looking, but then it's an older film and that's the nature of
the film stock used. The disc is very good looking, but not
blow-you-away good. In any case, this is probably not the best title to
test the video quality of Blu-ray Disc, so let's move on.

Now these two Lionsgate titles... they're much better looking. Crash
and Lord of War have significantly
improved clarity, crisp yet clean detail, vibrant color... they're much
more like what I expected Blu-ray Disc would look like. Both have a more
film-like image. And yet...

There are some problems I'm seeing right away with all of the Blu-ray
Disc titles on the BD-P1000. First, when I switch to 1080i, I'm noticing
some very obvious scaling issues that I don't see when the player is set
to 720p. I also don't see anything like this on the Toshiba HD-A1 at any
resolution, so this is specific to THIS player, which may be why Samsung
ships it with 720p set by default. Second, I'm noticing a very slight "studdering"
problem. About once a second, or maybe once every few seconds, the video
seems to hesitate for just a instant - a tiny fraction of a second. You
notice it most when the images on screen are moving quickly, or when the
camera is panning. It may be that this issue is related to the first.
Still trying to figure out what I'm seeing here. Lionsgate's Lord
of War was the title where I noticed it first, and I'll have
to check them all before knowing whether it's just this title or all of
the discs. Again, it's not something I've seen on any HD-DVD titles thus
far.

By the way, I haven't tested the Samsung's standard DVD upconversion
capability to any real degree yet. Just FYI.

If I had to compare my initial impressions of Blu-ray Disc to those of
HD-DVD... well, I certainly need to see more Blu-ray titles and spend
more time with the player. I'm really just giving you my initial,
off-the-cuff comments, based on less than 10 hours of viewing time with
the Samsung. It's worth noting that we've only seen one player for each
format, so it's hard to say what issues are specifically related to the
players, and what are format related. But right now... I think I may end
up giving Round One of this format war to HD-DVD, and that surprises the
hell out of me. Sure, that Tosh HD-DVD player was a lemon until the
firmware upgrade, but it's worked like a charm since. And the first 25
or so HD-DVD discs I've viewed just look better overall than the first 4
Blu-ray Discs I've seen. The HD-DVDs also have a LOT more extra features
than the Blu-ray Discs (even if you consider that most of the extras are
recycled from standard DVD). For the record, Terminator
on Blu-ray has 7 deleted scenes and 2 featurettes, recycled from
standard DVD. Fifth Element has a
pop-up trivia track, again from the standard DVD. The Lionsgate titles
have nothing. I keep hearing these comments (both official and
unofficial) from Blu-ray execs saying that they're leaving off the
extras so they can give all the extra disc space over to the best video
quality possible. Which tells me that Blu-ray is having major disc space
problems. I've heard from more than a few industry sources that Blu-ray
is having trouble getting the dual-layered BD media to work, which means
that discs with lots of extras and good video quality aren't an option
now. It also means that longer movies aren't an option now either. Both
are problems for this format that don't seem to be troubling HD-DVD at
the moment - at least not at first glance, based on the initial title
offering.

What all of this goes to prove, of course, is just what I've been
saying all along: These formats are being rushed to market before
they're ready. And it also proves that the best option for the vast
majority of you out there is just to save your money. Don't even bother
with Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD for at least a year, because there are
significant bugs to be worked out yet. Wait until better hardware and
software is available at a better price, and the early adopter types
have dealt with the problems and getting the manufacturers and studios
to fix them. Anyway, I'll have more to say about Blu-ray Disc and the
Samsung player in the next few days, as I spend a little more time with
it. But so far, I'm less than impressed.

Okay, it's pretty late (or early) and my eyes are burning, so enough
for now.

Stay tuned...

(LATE UPDATE - 6/20/06 -
11:15 AM PDT)

We've got some DVD news that's going to make a lot of you happy.
Universal has just officially announced the release of Battlestar
Galactica: Season 2.5 for 9/19 (SRP $49.98). The 3-disc set
will include all 10 of the remaining episodes from the season in
anamorphic widescreen video with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, along with an
extended version of the Season 2.0
cliff-hanger episode Pegasus.
Additional extras will include all of producer Ron Moore's podcast
commentaries, deleted scenes and producer David Eick's video journals.
There's no word yet as to whether Season 2.0
and 2.5 will be sold together as a
2-pack, or as a single release at a later date.

Universal has also announced NBC's The
Office: Season Two for release on 9/12 (SRP also $49.98).
This will be a 22-episode, 4-disc set, with video in anamorphic
widescreen and audio in Dolby Digital 5.1. Extras are due to include
extended and deleted scenes, outtakes and more.

Universal has announced a bunch more HD-DVD releases today as well,
including Red Dragon, Seabiscuit
and Traffic on 9/12, and End
of Days and Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas on 9/19 (SRP for all is $29.98 each). Also on 9/19,
the studio will release a pair of DVD/HD-DVD Combo titles, including
Dazed and Confused and George
A. Romero's Land of the Dead (SRP $34.98 each).

Meanwhile, Sony has set RV for
DVD, UMD and Blu-ray Disc release on 8/15, with Silent
Hill following on DVD, UMD and Blu-ray Disc on 8/22. The DVDs
will be available in both full frame and anamorphic widescreen. Other
newly announced standard DVD releases from Sony include The
Hard Corps, a White Nights:
Special Edition, a Tap: Special
Edition, Mountain Patrol: Kekelixi
and The Chuck Norris Collection
(which includes Delta Force 1 & 2,
Missing in Action 1 and the Missing
in Action 2 & 3 Double Feature), all on 8/29.

Meanwhile, back on the standard DVD front, BCI has announced that
they're creating a new Ink & Paint label, under which they plan to
release lots of classic TV and feature animated titles from the 70s, 80s
and 90s on DVD. These will include the first three volumes of He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe, along with such forthcoming
titles as She-Ra, Princess of Power,
Flash Gordon, Prince
Valiant, The Groovy Goolies,
Blackstar, Space
Sentinels and Freedom Force.
Look for lots of extras to be included on each release.

Stay tuned...

(EARLY UPDATE - 6/20/06 -
12:01 AM PDT)

Well... it's Day One for Sony's Blu-ray Disc at last. The discs are
here, the players should be here, and we've finally got something to
compare Toshiba's HD-DVD image quality to. How will the two formats
stack up against one another? We've gotten our hands on Samsung's
BD-P1000, and we'll be looking at our first discs over the next few
days, so we'll start to let you know soon.

In the meantime, as Warner revs up its hype machine to begin promoting
the release of Superman Returns in
theaters next week, I thought it would be a good time to review their
new
Look,
Up in the Sky! documentary DVD, which arrives in stores today.
I also thought it might be timely to take a look at a trio of DVD
releases of
the
classic Fleischer-animated Superman serial, including
Image's The Superman Cartoons of Max &
Dave Fleischer (released in 1998), Image and Bosko's later
The Complete Superman Collection: Diamond
Anniversary Edition (released in 2000), and VCI's new Superman:
The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection (released just
last month).

Speaking of Superman Returns, is
anyone else out there as excited to see the film as we are? The
mainstream press reviews have started to go up around the Net today, and
they're almost all glowing in their praise of the film (although we
caution you that many of the reviews feature MAJOR spoilers). I know
we've been talking about the film since Comic-Con last year, but there's
one bit of footage I've seen recently from the film that really speaks
volumes to me. In the Look, Up in the Sky!
documentary, there's a shot of Brandon Routh as Clark Kent where he's
holding a picture of himself as a child with his adopted parents... and
one of the faces we see in the B&W photo is that of Glenn Ford as
Jonathan Kent (from Richard Donner's original 1978 Superman).
It's just little details like that - the fact that director Bryan Singer
has preserved details like that in his reimagining of the Man of Steel
mythos - that have me really truly excited. In fact, I don't think I've
been this excited since I stood in line with Matt (Mr.
MusicTAP
himself) a couple years ago to take in a 12-hour marathon of Peter
Jackson's Rings movies,
culminating in the premiere of Return of the
King. I just so want this movie to be the home run it could
and should be. Fingers crossed. You can bet Matt and I will be taking in
a Midnight screening next Tuesday night, along with legions of other
Superman fans. It promises to be the biggest and most entertaining film
geek event of the Summer. How can you possibly pass up on that? ;-)

Anyway, we'll be back with more DVD news later, so stay tuned!

6/19/06

Hey... what do you know? Here's a nice bit of news to help start the
new week off on the right foot: Entertainment
Weekly has just named The Digital
Bits one of their 25 Favorite
Online Entertainment Sites for 2006! The publication has just
posted their
picks online, and you'll find them in the June 23rd print issue as
well (pictured below - see pages 38-40), which is arriving on newsstands
now. By lucky chance, it's the Superman
Returns issue, so lots of folks are sure to read it.

We're
certainly honored and, of course, pleased as punch. It's nice to know
that after nearly TEN years of covering movies on disc, we're still
managing to hold on to our relevance and some measure of street cred.
Other sites chosen by EW this
year include our friends at Ain't
It Cool News, the Internet
Movie Database and
The
Onion, so we're in fine company! The editors of each site
were also asked to pick three of their own favorites for a total
listing of 100 in all (for the record, our picks included
Adult Swim,
Comics.com
and Areas
of My Expertise, the eclectic home of writer and regular
Daily Show contributor John
Hodgman - you may also know him as "PC" in those new Mac
ads).

This honor is certainly shared with all of our dedicated staffers
here at The Bits (past and
present), along with everyone at our
MusicTAP.net
and DVD
Fanboy partner sites, DocDVD
and everyone involved with our new
Digital
Forum too - people whose hard work and dedication over the
years have helped to make The Digital Bits
what it is today. Special thanks also to the editors of EW
for the recognition, and to you, our readers (both those inside the
Hollywood filmmaking community and you DVD fans the world over), for
all of your unwavering support from Day One back in 1997. You guys are
the best!

All
right, before we go and have an embarrassing Sally Field Oscar speech
moment, we've got some new DVD reviews for you today, and well as some
release news to report.

First up, Adam Jahnke has just checked in with a new edition of
The
Bottom Shelf, in which he looks at a trio of interesting
war-related films, including Universal's
Jarhead,
Magnolia's
The
War Within and Sony Classics'
Why
We Fight documentary. All are interesting and well worth your
time (the first two are already available - Why
We Fight streets on 6/27).

Now for that DVD news... Goldhil Entertainment and Liberation
Entertainment have announced the DVD release of the classic Daniel
Boone TV series starring Fess Parker. Seasons One and Two of
the series will arrive on disc on 9/26 (SRP $49.98 each), with extras
set to include audio commentary from Parker, a photo gallery, video
interviews with Parker and a guide to his winery and resort (hhhmmm...).
You can read more
here
at Home Media Retailing.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox has revealed that they'll release the first
season of NBC's My Name Is Earl on
DVD as a 4-disc set on 9/26 (SRP $49.98), complete with a new, unaired
episode created exclusively for this DVD release. Again, you'll find
more
here.

Universal has set Focus Films' On a Clear
Day for release on 7/11 (SRP $29.98), with video in
anamorphic widescreen and audio in Dolby Digital 5.1. Extras, if any,
are TBA.

Buena Vista has set Disney's The Wild
for release on 9/12, along with The Miracle
Match. A Twitches: Bewitched
Edition is also due on 9/5.

Billy Zane fans will be pleased to learn that Paramount has set Survival
Island for release on 8/15 (and yet still we await the
studio's first HD-DVD announcements... go figure).

Also, Warner will bow Cartoon Network's Ed,
Edd 'n Eddy: The Complete First Season on 10/10.

Okay... that's all the news for now on this Day Before Blu-ray Day. The
high-def battle is about to be joined as the very first Blu-ray Disc
titles finally arrive in stores tomorrow. The Samsung player is now in
stock at many retailers (it's officially due on 6/25). Later this week,
we'll get our first hands-on look at Sony's half of the high-definition
disc war here at The Bits, and you
can be sure that we'll let you know exactly what we think about it.
We've got more standard DVD and HD-DVD reviews on the way this week as
well, so don't touch that dial. Or mouse. Button. Thingie.

Finally, one last note today... and it has nothing to do with movies or
DVD, so bear with me. Do we have any animal lovers in the house today?
Sarah and I do volunteer work with an organization called
Happy Cats, that
operates out of the local PetSmart here in Irvine, California. Happy
Cats is a non-profit foundation that's helped save literally hundreds of
homeless and abandoned cats in the last few years, and find them great
homes. I bring this up for two reasons. First, it's kitten season here
in The OC, so if you're interested, there are LOTS of sweet, cuddly
little felines in need of new families (and plenty of adorable adult
cats too). Second, because it's kitten season - and because Happy Cats
doesn't shy away from taking on even hard-to-place cats that have been
abused or injured - they're always in need of donations to help pay for
food and supplies, routine shots, spaying and neutering, and sometimes
more extensive medical bills. If any of you out there love animals as
much as we do, and you're looking for a good place to make a
tax-deductible donation, the folks at Happy Cats would sure appreciate
your support. You can visit
their website to donate via credit card or PayPal. While you're
there, you might want to take a few minutes to
check
out all the amazing cats available for adoption as well. (Sarah
runs the website and takes all the kitty pictures too - there are some
real cute ones in there!)

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there in case you're interested.
Thanks for your patience.

Back with more DVD news tomorrow. Stay tuned!

(LATE UPDATE - 6/15/06
- 8:30 PM PDT)

Alright... THIS is the last update until Monday. Seriously. But this
news was just WAY too hot to sit on. This ought to make you happy, DVD
fans... Criterion
has just announced an AWESOME new slate of DVD releases for September,
including anamorphic widescreen, 2-disc upgradings of Federico Fellini's
Amarcord (Cat #4) and Jacques
Tati's Playtime (#112), along with
new editions of Víctor Erice's The
Spirit of the Beehive (#352) and Nobuo Nakagawa's Japanese
horror classic Jigoku (#353). And
HERE'S the best news... also on the way for September is a new
anamorphic widescreen upgrading of Terry Gilliam's Brazil
(#51) available in both the original 3-disc edition and a new
single-disc edition too, PLUS the badass new 3-disc special edition of
Akira Kurosawa's landmark Seven Samurai
(#2) that we've been expecting! All of these titles are currently
expected on 9/5.

Okay... be honest now. How many of you just soiled your boxers? Yeah,
us too.

DAMN! Finally, we've got a super-über Blade
Runner DVD coming, and now we get upgrades of the already über
Brazil set AND 3 discs of Seven
Samurai too?! Wow! We likey THEM apples just fine!

And on that happy note... we leave you until Monday. Peace out!

(LATE UPDATE - 6/15/06 -
1 PM PDT)

One last update before we get this server move rolling. We've been
following up on that Lancelot Link
issue we talked about earlier this morning, so the DVD reviews will come
on Monday.

So here's the deal on Lancelot,
direct from Image Entertainment. Their 2-disc release is not the
complete series, but the company is careful not to market it as such. It
seems that of the 15 episodes of the show that were made, only 12 of
them were offered to Image for home video release. And of those 12
available episodes, the audio on half of one of them was missing
entirely (which accounts for the missing half-episode on the DVD). Also,
the masters offered to Image were apparently not in the best shape, so
the studio went to a lot of effort to clean them up and make them look
as good as was possible. Just know that the 2-disc DVD released
yesterday is the best product they can deliver... which, as I said
earlier, isn't bad given that it's only $24.99. There was a DVD release
of the complete series a few years ago from another company, but it was
released on 6 separate volumes for some $20 each, and it's now long out
of print. So again, 2 DVDs for $25 versus 6 DVDs for $120... even with
three episodes missing, that's still a helluva good deal. Anyway, that's
the deal, just so you know.

Okay... one last thing. A lot of people have been asking us about the
Twin Peaks DVD information we
posted this morning in
The
Rumor Mill. Specifically, they want to know if Paramount's
release is going to include the pilot episode. Our understanding is that
it will, but that's not official. We'll post more information when it's
available.

Now then, have a great weekend and we'll see you back here on Monday
after the server move. Best to all of you and stay tuned!

(EARLY UPDATE - 6/15/06 -
12:01 AM PDT)

Okay... first up, a heads-up. It looks like our big server move is
going to finally start happening later today and, with luck, should be
complete by Sunday. That means we'll be away through the weekend and,
again with luck, we should be back on Monday. If we can still access the
server later this morning, we'll get that DVD review posted today. If
not, we'll have a lot of them for you on Monday. Just FYI.

Now... on to some news. In the high-def realm, Samsung has issued a
press release today officially confirming that they've shipped their
BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player to retailers here in the States, with the
units expected to be available for sale in stores around the country on
6/25. On the other hand, it seems that Sony has now pushed back the
debut of their first Blu-ray Disc player until mid-August (8/15 to be
exact - it had been expected in July, but no longer).

On the standard DVD front today, we're hearing from a TON of readers
that Image Entertainment's new Lancelot Link:
Secret Chimp release that we mentioned yesterday DOESN'T hold
the complete series. Out of at least 15 total episodes (with 2
adventures and an "Evolution Revolution" musical number per
episode), this 2-disc set seems to have 11½ episodes (6 per disc,
except one of the episodes is missing its second adventure). To the best
of our knowledge, the complete list of series episodes are as follows.
Again, note that each episode has 2 adventures, plus a musical number
(unlisted). Those adventures in WHITE
are included on the Image set - those in ORANGE
are apparently missing:

001 - There's No Business Like Show
Business, Part 1 / Part 2
002 - The Great Brain Drain /
The Great Double Double Cross
003 - Lance of Arabia / The
Doctor Goes A.P.E.
004 - The Surfin' Spy / The
Missing Link
005 - Bonana / The
Greatest Chase in the World
006 - The Reluctant Robot / The
Royal Foil
007 - The Great Great Race / The
Great Plane Plot
008 - Landlubber Lance / The
Temporary Thanksgiving Turkey Truce
009 - The Dreaded Hong Kong Sneeze
/ The Great Bank Robbery
010 - The Sour Taste of Success /
The Baron's Birthday Ball
011 - The Golden Swwword / The
Chilling Chump Chase
012 - The Chump Code Caper / Weather
or Not
013 - The Evolution Revolution /
The Great Water Robbery
014 - The Spy Who Went Out in the Cold
/ Too Many Chumps
015 - The Lone A.P.E. / Missile
Beach Party

The series has gone through various owners and syndication runs over
the years, so that might explain the missing eps. Hopefully, Image will
release a more complete set in the future. In any case, the episodes you
DO get in Image's set are still pretty nice to have, considering they're
only $24.99 out the door.

All right, in other DVD news today, Sony will be releasing the comedy
pirate movie Yellowbeard on 6/27.
Also streeting that day are Private Resort
and a pair of MGM Midnite Movies titles, Crystalstone/The
Boy and the Pirates and Fortunes
of Captain Blood/Captain Pirate. Ironically, those will
probably be the last two MGM Midnite Movies titles Sony releases.
Hopefully, Fox will be more on the ball with MGM's back catalog titles
in the months ahead (like finally releasing those MIA Sergio Leone
SEs... hint, hint!).

Around the site today, we've just posted the latest installment of
Jahnke's
Electric Theatre, which features Adam's thoughts on the
recently released (to theaters) A Prairie
Home Companion, Cars,
An Inconvenient Truth and The
Omen. I'll tell you, as a former St. Paul, Minnesota native,
and as someone who admires Garrison Keillor (and has met him on a couple
occasions), I REALLY want to like Robert Altman's A
Prairie Home Companion. But every time I think of Altman now,
I think of the personal hell I endured while watching his Dr.
T and the Women and I just want to claw my eyeballs out. Ugh.
Still, even a good director has his misfires. And if there's a little
Bebop-a-rebop Rhubarb Pie involved, I'll take that action. If any of you
see the film in the next couple days, do let me know what y'all think.

Also this morning, we've got a new update of
The
Rumor Mill available for your reading pleasure, and it
includes words of confirmation about a MAJOR and long-awaited upcoming
David Lynch DVD release. Yes... it's the one you think (and hope) it is.
There's more in there too, so don't miss it.

Finally, a heads-up to you UMD fans. Fox is going to be releasing Independence
Day on 6/27, and they've announced Family
Guy: Volume 2 for release on 9/19.

Okay... again, don't forget, the server move means we'll either see you
back here once more later today... or not until Monday. Either way,
thanks again for your patience and have a great weekend. We recommend
going to see Jack Black in Nacho Libre,
which opens at your local Googleplex on Friday. We sure plan to.
Nachoooooooooooooo!

Stay tuned...

(LATE UPDATE - 6/14/06 -
1:15 PM PDT)

Okay... quite a lot of new standard DVD release news just came in, so
let's run it all down for you.

First up, Universal has announced the "value pack" DVD
release of 2-packs of a number of Halloween-themed titles on 8/22. They
include Evil Remains/Blood Angels
and Satan's Little Helper/Phil the Alien
(SRP $9.99 each), along with Fear of the
Dark/Hell's Gate 11:11 and Shallow
Ground/Vampires: Out for Blood (SRP $14.99 each).

While we're talking thrillers, New Line is preparing a new Infinifilm
edition of their classic A Nightmare on Elm
Street. Due on 9/26, the new edition will include new audio
essays with director Wes Craven and star Robert Englund, documentaries
on the franchise's origins and legacy, a trivia challenge and a
behind-the-scenes featurette. You can read more
here
at Home Media Retailing.

Warner and the BBC are about to make Doctor
Who fans and Sony PSP owners really happy. They've set the
UMD release of the new Doctor Who: The
Complete First Season - Volumes 1-4 for 7/4 (SRP $19.98
each). They're also releasing The Office: The
Complete First Series on UMD format on 7/4, as well as Little
Britain: The Complete First Series and Little
Britain: The Complete Second Series (SRP $27.95 each). Coming
to DVD from the pair are The Old Grey Whistle
Test: Volume 3 and The Old Grey
Whistle Test Collection (containing Volumes
1-3) on 8/29. Volume 3
features performances by such artists as Jackson Browne, Roger Daltrey,
Joe Jackson, King Crimson, Supertramp, B.B. King, Simple Minds, Humble
Pie and others. Warner has also set a Leading
Ladies of the Studio Era Collection for DVD release on 8/29
(SRP $49.92), containing Dial M for Murder,
Father of the Bride, For
Me and My Gal, Mildred Pierce
and Now, Voyager. Father
of the Bride and For Me and My Gal
will also be available separately on that date (SRP $14.97 each - the
other titles already are).

Meanwhile, Paramount has set the animated The
Adventures of Chico & Guapo: The Complete First Season
for release on 9/5. MTV's 8th & Ocean:
The Complete First Season follows on 9/12, along with Wildboyz:
The Complete Seasons 3 & 4 - Uncensored.

Anchor Bay Entertainment has set Astro Boy:
Greatest Astro Adventures and The
Garden for DVD release on 7/11, along with Karas:
Volume One in UMD format for Sony's PSP. Their Halloween
4: The Return of Michael Myers - Divimax Special Edition,
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers -
Divimax Special Edition and Halloween:
25 Years of Terror documentary follows on 7/25. Also due 7/25
is the animated Ghost in the Shell: Stand
Alone Complex: 2nd GIG - Volume 6 (in both standard and
2-disc limited editions).

Indie distributor Image Entertainment has Afro-Punk,
Chaplin Mutual Comedies: Restored Edition,
The Damned, The
Femme Fatale Collection, Forbidden
Adventure/Forbidden Women, Goodnight,
Joseph Parker, Hollywood After
Dark/The Rotten Apple, Patlabor 2:
The Movie and a Patlabor 2: The
Movie - Limited Collector's Edition all due on 7/11, 7
Mummies, The Amazing Mr. X,
Bloody Brothers, Hard
Justice/Outside the Law, Laffapalooza!
8, Latin Palooza, Meth
& Red: How to Throw a Party at the Playboy Mansion, Mystique:
Sexiest Women in the World, Peaches,
The Pee-Wee Herman Show: Live from the Sunset
Strip's Roxy Theatre and Playboy:
Naked Sins due on 7/18, Ridin' on
a Rainbow, Sunset in Wyoming,
Second Chorus, Super
Chiller Blood-o-Rama, War Gods of
Babylon/War Goddess and Where
Eskimos Live rounding out the month of July on 7/25.

For August, Image has set 25 Years of Improv
Comedy, Ding Dong/Merry Maids of
the Gay Way, Dracula, Prisoner of
Frankenstein, Girasoles Para Lucia,
Putney Swope, The
Sex Thief, a Sexy South Box Set
and Wilbur and the Baby Factory/Tanya
for 8/1, Anita & Me, Bullet
Boy, Canto a Mi Tierra,
Clone, The
Community Project (UMD), The DC
Video (UMD), Ferias de Mexico,
Ghost in a Teeny Bikini, Playboy:
X Mates, Revenge of the Living
Dead Girls, Shinbone Alley
and Salome for 8/8, Calypso,
Crimes (Gunaah), The
LA Riot Spectacular, Playboy:
Kinky Pleasures, Playboy: Wet &
wild - The Complete Collection, Steppenwolf
and Terminal Impact/Cyborg Soldier
for 8/15, Angel of Vengeance, John
Entwistle: An Ox's Tale, Mystique:
Naked Island Race, Playboy at the
Beach, The Real and
The Viking Sagas for 8/22, and
Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry,
Her Majesty and Tokyo
Rampage (Poruno Suta) for 8/29.

And man, I don't know HOW the heck this managed to slip past me, but
Image just yesterday released the complete Lancelot
Link: Secret Chimp on DVD - all 22 banana-lovin' episodes of
it on 2 discs - for just $24.99. Count me in on THAT!

Finally this afternoon, Synapse Films has announced the release of Small
Gauge Trauma for 7/25 (SRP $24.95), which includes 13
award-winning horror/fantasy shorts from around the world (including
Abuelitos, Chambre
Juane, Flat-N-Fluffy,
Gorgonas, I'll
See You in My Dreams, Infini,
L'Ilya, Love
from Mother Only, Miss Greeny,
Ruta Destroy!, The
Separation, Sister Lulu
and Tea Break), along with
filmmaker commentaries, the Moonspell music video for I'll
See You in My Dreams, a deleted scene from the Separation,
a special video introduction by José Mojica Marins (Coffin Joe)
and more.

Naturally, we've updated our
UMD
Release List with all of today's new UMD title announcements.

With so much DVD release news to post today, we'll be back with those
DVD reviews tomorrow morning. Stay tuned...

(EARLY UPDATE -
6/14/06 - 12:01 AM PDT)

Well... we're about a week away from the big debut of Sony's Blu-ray
Disc format (sort of), so we thought it might be a good idea to give you
a little status report of where things stand as far as the hardware and
software that's expected to be available.

The first seven Blu-ray movie titles from Sony and MGM are due on 6/20
(more on that in a minute). One Blu-ray Disc player is expected in
stores this month (tentatively on 6/25)... Samsung's BD-P1000 ($999).
And one computer equipped with a Blu-ray ROM drive will be available
this month as well (on 6/21)... Sony's VAIO VGN-AR190G laptop ($3,499,
shipped with a free Blu-ray copy of House of
Flying Daggers). Sony's first set-top Blu-ray Disc player,
the BDP-S1 ($999) has been delayed until July, while Pioneer's BDP-HD1
(recently lowered to $1,500 from $1,800) is now set for a September
debut.

You'd think that the Blu-ray Disc camp would have learned a lesson from
HD-DVD's clunky format launch in April, and would be trying to really
make a big splash with their debut. However, reports we're hearing from
insiders... and our own first-hand experience thus far... would seem to
suggest that such is not the case. Only Sony, MGM and Lionsgate have as
yet announced Blu-ray Disc titles, and future announcements from MGM are
likely to be impacted by the studio's move to Fox for home video
distribution. Meanwhile, Fox, Disney, Paramount and Warner are all
officially mum about their release plans on the format at the moment
(though we expect at least Fox and Warner to announce their initial
releases by the time Sony and Pioneer's players hit store shelves).

What we do know for sure is that Sony and MGM have just done a
last-minute re-shuffling off their initial Blu-ray Disc launch titles.
We've updated our
High-Def
Release List naturally, but here are the updated specifics
(confirmed with the studios as of last night):

Lionsgate's initial release slate, at least, remains unchanged. Look
for
Crash,
Lord
of War,
The
Punisher,
Saw
and
Terminator
2: Judgment Day on 6/27. The
Devil's Rejects, Reservoir Dogs,
Total Recall, Stargate
and Frank Herbert's Dune, which
had originally been set for release yesterday (6/13) have obviously been
delayed and have yet to be re-announced.

Confused yet? Well, don't feel too bad about it. So are we, and pretty
much everyone else out there who's following all this high-def stuff. I
can't even imagine what some of you retail guys must be going through,
trying to keep DVD, UMD, HD-DVD and now Blu-ray Disc straight! In any
case, you can likely expect some of the titles we've just mentioned to
move around a little more before all is said and done.

No one ever said sorting all this out would be easy, did they?

We'll be back later with some regular DVD news (if there's any to
report), as well as a new DVD review. And don't forget to check out the
reviews we posted late yesterday, including a trio of new Zatoichi
DVD reviews from our very own (some might say "long lost")
Todd Doogan!

Also today, we've added some new reviews from Matt and the boys over at
our MusicTAP
site, including a look at Rhino's DVD release of the
Faith
No More: Double Feature (which contains both We
Care a Lot: The Videos and Live at
Brixton Academy: You Fat B**tards), as well as new SACD
reviews of Mobile Fidelity's The
Byrds: The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Universal Music's
recent
Moody
Blues high-resolution reissues, including Days
of Future Passed, In Search of the
Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a
Dream, To Our Children's
Children's Children and A Question
of Balance.

Enjoy those, and we'll see you back here tomorrow with more. Stay
tuned...

(EARLY UPDATE - 6/13/06
- 11:45 AM PDT)

There's not a lot of standard DVD news to report this morning, other
than a few new announcements.

Specifically, Warner has set Neil's Party
for release on 8/22, the Cartoon Network
Christmas: Volume 3 for 10/3, and Harry
& His Bucketful of Dinosaurs: Volume 1 for 10/10.

Also, Paramount has set the DVD release of a new Beavis
and Butt-Head Do America DVD for 9/12. In addition, the
studio has Spongebob Squarepants: Season 4,
Volume 1 due on 9/12, and a Save
the Last Dance: Special Collector's Edition due on 9/26. Also
due on 9/26 is a Stephen King Collection
containing The Dead Zone, Pet
Sematary, Graveyard Shift
and Silver Bullet.

On the high-def front today, there's word from Universal that National
Lampoon's Animal House and Unleashed
are expected to be released on 8/8 as DVD/HD-DVD Combo format discs (SRP
$34.98 each). We've updated the
High-Def
Release List accordingly. The studio has also announced that
it's dropping the price of all its other HD-DVD titles (released prior
to 8/8) from $34.98 to $29.98. Just FYI.

By the way, Warner has just informed us that the release date for Humphrey
Bogart: The Signature Collection - Volume 2 has been changed
from 9/12 to 10/3. We've updated the earlier post.

Stay tuned!

(EARLY UPDATE - 6/12/06 -
12:30 PM PDT)

Wow... I have to say, I'm REALLY happy with this firmware update for
Toshiba's HD-XA1, HD-A1 and HD-D1 HD-DVD players so far. More than a few
of you have wondered why we haven't reviewed more HD-DVD releases here
at The Bits, and the sad fact is,
I've been having such a hard time getting our HD-A1 to work properly,
that it's just been sucking all the joy out of watching high-definition
movies for me. Seriously, only about once out of every five tries could
I watch an HD-DVD all the way through without some kind of skipping,
freezing or audio synch problem, and it was enough to just really sour
me on the format. But all that was before I downloaded this firmware
update on Friday night. It's actually pretty easy. You simply connect
your player to the Net via the Ethernet port (you need to have it
connected to a TV or monitor too, so you can read the on-screen display)
and enter the Setup menu. There, you switch on the Ethernet connection,
and then you enter the Setup menu's "Maintenance" area, which
gives you the option to "Update" the player. When you select "Update",
the player connects to Toshiba's servers via the Net to see if there's
new firmware available. If there is, you get one of those legal
disclaimers in small text (that's virtually unreadable) and you're given
the choice of "OK"-ing the update or cancelling. Once you
throw caution to the wind and select "OK," the player begins
downloading the new software. It took about 20 minutes, during which
time you get a simple on-screen graphic saying something to the effect
of: "Updating... Do not turn off the player." Basically, you
just wait until the download is done, at which point the player installs
the firmware update and turns itself off. I waited about 5 minutes
before turning it back on again, just to make sure it was done. Then I
disconnected the Ethernet cable, took the player back to our home
theater and hooked it back into the system. The good news is, it seems
to work like a charm now... FINALLY!!! I've watched a couple of films in
their entirety and sampled several more, all without a single glitch. If
you have one of these players, I can't recommend more strongly enough
that you update the firmware. If you follow the instructions properly,
you shouldn't have any problems. You can call Toshiba's customer service
hotline (800-319-6684) if you have any questions.

You have to wonder what Toshiba was thinking, releasing hardware that
was this buggy in the first place, but at least they seem to have fixed
the worst of the problems. In any case, now that we've got an actual
working player, you can expect those HD-DVD reviews to start flowing
around here later this week.

By the way, we've gotten a few e-mails in recent weeks from Bits
readers who are concerned about how much we're focusing on the new
high-definition formats. They typically read like: "I don't care
about Blu-ray and HD-DVD, so please stop talking about them all the
time!" Rest assured, we have no intention of discontinuing our
standard DVD coverage. It's where we started here at The
Bits, and we intend to continue covering the format until the
last disc is pressed many years from now. However, these new high-def
formats represent the cutting edge of home video technology, and they
could have a dramatic impact on DVD as we know it. We'd be irresponsible
if we didn't add high-definition coverage to our reporting here at The
Bits. So we're definitely going to cover both standard DVD
and the new HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats, but we'll try to keep a
good balance to our news and review mix. Rest assured, standard DVD
isn't going away any time soon, and neither will we abandon it around
here. 'Nuff said.

On the standard DVD news front today, Sony's announced the release of
Berenstain Bears: Discover School!,
Dragon Tales: Experience New Things!,
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: The Cat's
Colorful World, Blue Thunder: The
Complete Series and a re-issue of the Dances
with Wolves: Extended Cut, all for 8/22.

Meanwhile, Warner and HBO have confirmed the 9/26 street date we
reported last week for The Notorious Bettie
Page. Look for anamorphic widescreen video and Dolby Digital
5.1 audio. Extras, if any, are still TBA.

Warner has also announced Humphrey Bogart:
The Signature Collection - Volume 2 for release on 10/3 (SRP
$59.92), which will include the DVD debuts of Across
the Pacific, Action in the North
Atlantic, All Through the Night
and Passage to Marseille (all of
which are exclusive to this box set), as well as The
Maltese Falcon: 3-Disc Special Edition (which will also be
available separately for SRP $29.92). The
Maltese Falcon will include a new digital transfer of the
film from restored elements, audio commentary by Bogart biographer Eric
Lax, a Warner Night at the Movies 1941
short subjects gallery, 2 previous movie versions of the story
(including the 1931 The Maltese Falcon
with Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez and the 1936 Satan
Met a Lady with Bette Davis and Warren William), the new The
Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird documentary, the Robert
Osborne hosted Becoming Attractions: The
Trailers of Humphrey Bogart, the Breakdowns
of 1941 blooper reel, a trio of radio adaptations
(audio-only) and theatrical trailers. All in all, it sounds pretty
fantastic.

Speaking of Warner, those of you who are eagerly awaiting the 6/20 DVD
release of the Look, Up in the Sky! The
Amazing Story of Superman documentary will be pleased to
learn that you've got the chance to get a nifty bonus. Available
exclusively at Best Buy is
a
2-disc limited edition version, complete with different cover art
and a slipcase (SRP $19.99 - the regular version is $14.99). The 2-disc
version contains the same documentary disc, but also includes a second
disc with some of Superman Returns
director Bryan Singer's weblogs from
BlueTights.net
(27 have been released in all so far, and you get 12 of them on this
bonus disc - all of them should be on the November DVD release of Superman
Returns). You also get a set of 5 post cards featuring poster
artwork from all of the live-action Superman
feature films, including the new one. It's a pretty nifty little set, so
do check it out if you're a fan. Watch for a review later this week.

Those of you who are into space travel will be pleased to learn that
Spacecraft Films has just released Challenger,
a 3-disc look at the ill-fated STS-51L Space Shuttle flight (SRP $44.99
- see details here).
They also have the 5-disc Apollo 14: To Frau
Mauro set nearing completion, so watch for that to be
released soon.

We have word today that Dark Sky Films will release The
Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Ultimate Edition on 9/26, which
will include all-new commentaries with director Tobe Hooper and members
of the cast and crew, as well as new behind-the-scenes documentaries.

Also today, we have word that Magnolia Pictures' DVD release of The
World's Fastest Indian features the film in an anamorphic
widescreen video transfer cropped for 1.78:1 presentation, rather than
the 2.35:1 aspect ratio at which it was shown theatrically. We're not
sure why this was done yet, but we wanted to make you aware of it.

And on a personal note, I'd like to offer a big Happy Birthday
shout-out today to my wife Sarah, a.k.a. Mrs. Digital Bits, who handles
all our contests (and does so much more around here too). The
Bits definitely wouldn't be possible without her!

We'll be back this afternoon... and yes, we'll be back with Barrie
Maxwell's new Classic Coming Attractions
column for you.

Stay tuned!

(LATE UPDATE - 6/9/06 - 4
PM PDT)

In
a
new interview over at The Hollywood Reporter, Superman
Returns director Brian Singer talks in-depth about how he
came to be involved in bringing the Man of Steel back to the big screen,
and reveals a little bit about what you might expect to find on the
November DVD & HD-DVD release of the film. According to Singer, all
of the online "weblogs" that have been posted on
BlueTights.net
will be included. Though he's yet to decide for sure, Singer may also
include a major deleted sequence from the film. He's also preparing
something called the In-Movie Experience (this would be for the HD-DVD
version - watch for a similar feature on the yet-to-be-announced Batman
Begins HD-DVD) where you can watch behind-the-scenes video on
the making of the film in a windowbox while you're watching the film
itself. In any case, it's a good interview, so do check it out.

Meanwhile, here at The Bits,
we've just posted
Adam
Jahnke's latest edition of The Electric Theatre, in which
he reviews The Da Vinci Code and
X-Men: The Last Stand (now in
theaters), as well as Enron: The Smartest
Guys in the Room and Z Channel: A
Magnificent Obsession on DVD.

We also wanted to let you all know that The
Digital Bits is going to be hosting another great panel
discussion at ComicCon in San Diego next month. This year's event
(currently labeled DVD 2006) will
offer previews of great upcoming projects, TONS of Q&A with DVD
producers and we hope to give you a first-hand look at HD-DVD and
Blu-ray Disc as well. The panel is tentatively set for Friday, July 21st
from 2 to 3:30 PM (Pacific) in Room 6B at the San Diego Convention
Center. We'll talk more about the event in the weeks ahead, and confirm
all of the details as we lock them down, but we wanted to mention it
today so that those of you who may be interested in attending can work
it into your plans. It should be a lot of fun, so we hope to see you
there!

Now then... not to keep teasing you, but I've decided to hold Barrie's
Classic Coming Attractions column
until Monday morning, just to make sure it doesn't get missed by anyone.
It's another great piece, so I'd hate for it to slip past anyone who
might be interested in it.

In the meantime, we'll leave you this week with a look at the cover art
for a trio of Warner's newly announced HD-DVDs. Here's 16
Blocks (street date 6/13), along with Syriana
(due on 6/20) and Lethal Weapon
(6/27)...

Have a great weekend and we'll see you Monday! Peace out.

(LATE UPDATE - 6/9/06 -
1:45 PM PDT)

Some breaking HD-DVD news just came in... Warner has just announced the
release of three new titles on the format. Syriana
and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang will both
arrive on HD-DVD on 6/20. The HD-DVD release of Syriana
(SRP $34.99) is day-and-date with the standard DVD version. Kiss
Kiss Bang Bang - which just so happens to be one of our
favorite films from 2005 - will be a DVD/HD-DVD combo format release
(SRP $39.99), arriving just a week after it's 6/13 standard DVD street
date. Then, following a week later on 6/27, you'll see the HD-DVD
release of Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon
(SRP $28.99). Extras on all of these new high-def discs will be
identical to those on the standard DVD releases. Note that we've updated
the
High-Def
Release List accordingly.

Stay tuned...

(EARLY UPDATE - 6/9/06 -
1:15 PM PDT)

Okay... we're wrapping up our DVD news roundup with today's first post,
and then we'll be back later this afternoon with Barrie and Adam's
latest columns.

In the meantime, you animation fans will be pleased to know that Warner
has officially announced the DVD release of Animaniacs:
Volume 1 and Pinky and The Brain:
Volume 1 for 7/25 (SRP $44.98 each). Animaniacs:
Volume 1 will include 25 episodes on 5 discs, plus the Animaniacs
Live! retrospective interview. Pinky
and The Brain: Volume 1 will include 22 episodes on 4 discs,
plus the Pinky and The Brain: The Start of
All Things Wacky featurette.

Warner's Tales from the Crypt: The Complete
Fourth Season streets on 7/25 as well (SRP $39.98), including
14 episodes on 3 discs, with audio commentaries and additional extras.

Also available on that day from Warner will be La
Femme Nikita: The Complete Fourth Season (SRP $99.98)
including 22 episodes on 6 discs, with additional deleted scenes,
episode audio commentaries, a gag reel and more.

Warner has also announced the release of Kisses
and Caroms (Lightyear) for 8/22, Baghdad
ER, Epitafios: The Complete First
Season and Happily Ever After:
Robinita Hood (all HBO) for 8/29, Gang
Wars and Oz: The Complete Sixth
Season (both HBO) for 9/5, Gloomy
Sunday, the International Cinema
Collection (5-pack, SRP $79.92, includes The
Damned, Day for Night,
Death in Venice, Gloomy
Sunday and A Very Long Engagement),
the Agatha Christie Collection featuring
Helen Hayes (3-pack, SRP $39.92, includes A
Caribbean Mystery, Murder Is Easy
and Murder with Mirrors), the Agatha
Christie Collection featuring Peter Ustinov (3-pack, SRP
$39.92, includes Dead Man's Folly,
Murder in Three Acts and Thirteen
at Dinner) and an Agatha Christie
Classic Mystery Collection (8-pack, SRP $99.92) which
includes the 6 titles already mentioned along with The
Man in the Brown Suit and Sparkling
Cyanide, all for 9/12. On 9/26, look for Chris
Rock Show: The Complete First & Second Seasons (HBO).
Tom and Jerry Tales, Volume 1 (12
shorts, SRP $14.97) follows on 10/3. Finally, My
Family: Seasons 1 & 2 (BBC) round out the list on 10/10.

On a Rumor Mill-worthy note,
sources are telling us to expect Buena Vista and Miramax to release Kinky
Boots on 9/5. We're also hearing that HBO's The
Notorious Bettie Page will hit DVD on 9/26, with audio
commentary by star Gretchen Mol, director/writer Mary Harron and writer
Guinevere Turner.

Don't forget that Anchor Bay is releasing Cemetery
Man on DVD this coming Tuesday (6/13). This is the European
version of the film, which stars Rupert Everett.

And Echo Bridge is debuting The Big White
on DVD on 6/13 as well. The black comedy features the likes of Robin
Williams, Holly Hunter, Woody Harrelson, Tim Blake Nelson and Giovanni
Ribisi. It actually looks pretty good... I'm looking forward to checking
it out.

In other news around the Net, our friends over at
From
Script to DVD.com have just posted a list of U.S. and Canadian
theaters that are showing Pixar's Cars
in DLP digital format, for those who might be interested in seeing the
film that way. The early reviews of the film are pretty great. It sounds
like a good film for the whole family to enjoy, which is pretty rare
these days.

Also today, it seems that Sony is gearing up for a big Blu-ray Disc
advertising blitz which has apparently already begun (click
here for more from Video Business).
You'll probably be seeing the TV ads this weekend, despite the fact that
actual Blu-ray Disc players are still more than a month away.